Rio+20 Sustainable Development Summit

20 June 2012

What is Rio+20?

Sustainable development is about people. It is about creating jobs and improving lives while respecting the environment. Eradicating poverty, preventing conflicts, empowering women and girls, and building responsible governing institutions are critical components.

Sustainable development is about redefining human progress and welfare across the board. It requires a change in the way we measure progress both in the private and public sector. The experience of economies from Costa Rica to Croatia shows that it is possible to combine long life expectancy with low carbon emissions and economic growth.

With a presence in 177 countries and territories, UNDP assists governments, private sector and civil society to build inclusive, prosperous, and greener societies. We advise our partners to consider every policy and investment from an economic, social and environmental perspective. This holistic, integrated approach to decision making is the path towards empowered lives, resilient nations and a sustainable future.

The 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or “Rio+20” is a forum on how to make sustainable development a reality for seven billion people today, and to define the future we want for nine billion by 2050.

The Future We Want

Interactive Timeline

This interactive visualization shows the evolution of the inter-governmental process on sustainable development over the last four decades. The grey squares represent resolutions that are either referenced by or make reference to other resolutions. Clicking on a grey square will display the relationship between the resolutions via a red arc. The selected and referenced resolutions can then be downloaded.